Photo by Josh Kowaleski, Pointed North Photography
It’s that magical time of the year. In a matter of days, the maple trees are turning red. Birds of all feathers are migrating south. The temps are (slowly) starting to cool. Crazy how this happens so quickly. The Heck of the North, for many, marks the end of a busy cycling season. We are excited to share this 15th running with you.
We are very appreciative of the incredible energy and spirit our riders bring to the event. It is a huge reason we love hosting our races. Thank you for being especially welcoming to new riders and our dedicated volunteers.
We are putting the finishing touches on Heck prep work. The Heck is different than a lot of other gravel events. Here are a few key thoughts we want to share before the big dance.
Safe travels and give a shout to jeremybkershaw@gmail.com with any race specific questions.
Ride the Good Line!
The routes are predominantly well maintained gravel road. But we have always included sections that are particularly challenging. The 100 and 60 mile routes will include historic, grassy North Shore State Trail (a Winter snowmobile trail.) Each will make two runs through. The 19 mile route will include a three mile section of two track road (no snowmobile trail.) I always recommend as wide a tire as your bike can fit or one between 35-45 mm. Keep pressures under 35 psi for most tires.
We have made lemonade from some weather and storm lemons this year. I think the courses are very Heck and we certainly appreciate your understanding of changes to our more traditional courses due to storm damaged roads.
We encourage riders to share their races experiences with friends over a delicious bowl of soup from The Vanilla Bean chefs. We have opted for healthier post race offerings over the last few years for a number of reasons.
Please take a look at the route maps for your event. If you are opting to use the gpx file, make sure it is downloaded before you arrive. And we will of course offer our traditional field note cue cards for navigating for those who want to roll analog.
Please see our two different times and locations for packet pickup on Friday evening and Saturday morning.
We strongly encourage all travelers to offset your carbon footprint with this great calculator from National Indian Carbon Coalition.
Parking is limited at the start gravel lot. Please complete this prior to 7:45am. Our parking volunteers will kindly direct you and we appreciate your patience with this process. Carpooling and drop-offs are a great alternative, too!
Our rosters are set. Waitlists are closed. Distances are final. We love the enthusiasm in last minute requests but thank you for respecting our limitations with changes.